The show was part of the Queens Symphony Orchestra concert series, which is taking place throughout Queens all summer. The free live performances are meant to educate “families and individuals of all ages about the universal value and necessity of orchestral music,” according to its website.

Five members of the orchestra played songs that paid tribute to New York City such as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.” Orchestra members also educated the crowd of 40 people about the instruments they play, which included a clarinet, cello, flute and oboe.

“From Richmond Hill to the Rockaways, Queens Symphony Orchestra delighted and entertained audiences in every corner of my district,” Ulrich said. “Each concert featured a distinctive genre of music and was well attended overall. I hope to continue these performances again next year.”

Charlene O’Dea, a resident of Hamilton Beach for 20 years, attended the event with her husband, Michael, and daughter, Heather.

“That show was great,” O’Dea said. “We enjoyed it very much. To my surprise, I knew most of the words to the music they played.”

Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron said he was glad to see an event like this hosted in his neighborhood.

“It was a wonderful thing,” Gendron said. “It’s nice to finally see Hamilton Beach get some of the events and the perks that other communities got in the past. It’s nice to see that.”

The Queens Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1953 by conductor David Katz, a Forest Hills resident who worked with Queens-based instrumentalists to bring free concerts to local communities so that they wouldn’t have to travel to Manhattan to experience classical music. Currently in its 63rd season, the Queens Symphony Orchestra is the only professional orchestra in Queens and the largest and oldest arts organization in the borough.

With their performance, the Queens Symphony Orchestra succeeded in making Hamilton Beach resident JeanAnn Giunta-Stetz a new fan of orchestral music.

“I’ve never listen to music like this before,” Giunta-Stetz said. “I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it, but found it fun and very entertaining.”

Police on Saturday stopped a group of individuals loitering on the footbridge that connects Hamilton Beach to Howard Beach around 7:30 p.m. During their investigation, police determined that a member of the group, an 18-year-old Howard Beach resident, scrawled a lewd image on the crossing moments earlier; a paint marker was found in his possession.

Reportedly, three of the suspects were taken into police custody. Two were issued criminal court summonses and released, while the Howard Beach teenager was charged with making graffiti and criminal mischief.

Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron said graffiti has been a problem on the blue bridge for decades.

“It has its high moments and its low times,” Gendron said. “There will be a lot of it and it’ll really peter out. These kids happened to get caught, which is good.”

Two Hamilton Beach residents became fed up with the graffiti last year and painted one side of the bridge dark green to deter vandals. But Gendron said that people just used lighter spray paint colors to make the graffiti visible.

Gendron said the civic association is looking to purchase anti-graffiti coating and would ultimately like for the Department of Transportation to coat the entire bridge. Though the coating is expensive, Gendron said it lasts for 10 years and would make it much easier for the graffiti to be washed away.

Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder said he has worked with the civic association and auxiliary police to clean up graffiti and has discussed purchasing anti-graffiti coating and putting up security cameras near the bridge.

But the biggest problem, he said, is the lack of resources for the police department.

“I don’t think there are enough resources in the police department to be able to stay on top of quality-of-life issues,” Goldfeder said. “Deputy Inspector Jeffrey Schiff and the 106th are doing an amazing job. I just think they need more resources. We’re going to keep doing everything we can to clean graffiti once it’s painted and prevent it in the future.”

Gendron said the graffiti brings down the quality of the community and is another headache for residents who are trying to build back their neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy.

“Some people call it art, some people call it graffiti. While some of it is beautiful, it shouldn’t be done unless it’s [allowed],” Gendron said.

Hamilton Beach will soon greet those who enter the neighborhood in style.

After a hit-and-run destroyed the old sign, which was made by a Hamilton Beach resident, the community started brainstorming designs for a new one.

Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron helped spearhead the project and used Facebook and local civic association meetings to request that residents bring in designs to local meetings.

Gendron said they received 11 or 12 entries and instead of choosing one, decided to pick and choose aspects of several designs to create the final product.

“I’m very happy with the design that we came up with,” Gendron said. “Actually the shape of the design was from one entry, and the color of the design was from another entry, and so it was actually a collaboration of a bunch of the different entries that we had.”

The civic also paid homage to the old sign by adding a ship’s steering wheel and keeping the phrase “A Great Place to Live,” flourishes that were featured on the old sign.

A piece of the old Hamilton Beach park will also be featured on the sign. Gendron saved two bird figurines that were located on top of certain poles in the park. When the park was renovated last October, Gendron saved the figurines and realized they would be a good addition to the new sign.

The figurines will be repainted and refurbished and placed on top of the columns that will hold up the sign.

Gendron posted a rendering to the civic association’s Facebook page and it quickly garnered 100 likes and excited comments from residents praising the design.

ADP USA, a sign business in Rockaway Park, agreed to create the sign and Howard Beach Memorial Services has donated some funds to build it.

The civic applied for a $3,000 community grant to be used for beautification projects but Gendron said they were denied. He said the civic association may host fundraisers to replenish the money they will use to pay for the construction of the sign.

The civic is also trying to work with local businesses to save on costs toward installing the welcome sign.

Gendron hopes the sign can be installed by the end of the month and said the civic is working out whether they will tie it in to a Fourth of July celebration or if they will decide on a separate date.

“It’s one of the first things you see when you come into Hamilton Beach,” Gendron said. “It’s very welcoming and we may make some future add-ons to the sign as we move forward but right now we need to get the sign up.”

Weeks before summer’s official arrival, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder called on the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to launch a preemptive strike on mosquitoes in southern Queens that may potentially carry the deadly West Nile virus.

Goldfeder said the area — including Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach and the Rockaways — is particularly susceptible because of the increase in “zombie properties” following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. These abandoned locations, according to Goldfeder, are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Last year, Goldfeder put forth a three-point plan to eliminate these zombie homes, including a push to ease the foreclosure process and a call to create a registry for vacant properties that could be monitored by the city. He has also worked with city agencies to encourage mosquito spraying and rodent baiting at the blighted properties.

“Families in southern Queens and Rockaway are at increased risk from the dangers of West Nile virus,” Goldfeder said. “The higher rate of abandoned properties and construction projects throughout the community following Sandy has only increased our potential for mosquito breeding. That’s why I’m calling on the city to take action and protect the health and well-being of our families as we head into summer.”

Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association, said residents must also take precautions to protect themselves and others from mosquito bites.

“The best way to prevent West Nile virus is to protect yourself from mosquito bites,” Gendron said. “Homeowners are asked to do their part throughout the mosquito season by eliminating any standing water. Who then is responsible for the homes that have been left abandoned and untouched since Superstorm Sandy? This is an important issue that needs to be addressed by the city.”

Goldfeder sent a letter to DOHMH Commissioner Mary Bassett and urged her to work with the Department of Environmental Protection to locate and clean out clogged catch basins. He also called for action by the Sanitation Department in enforcing lot cleanings.

A representative for the DOHMH said the department uses preventative measures to reduce mosquito populations and the threat of West Nile. These measures include applying larvicide in every New York City storm sewage catch basin this month. Larvicide is also applied by helicopter three times during mosquito season to wet, marshy areas that are known to be breeding areas.

“We conduct weekly surveillance for West Nile virus activity throughout the city, and adulticide will be applied to carefully delineated areas only if the threat to humans is imminent in those areas, based upon location, species, persistence, and levels of WNV activity in mosquitoes, and findings of WNV in humans or possibly in other animals,” the representative said. “Spraying adulticide in populated areas before we have any evidence of WNV activity is neither appropriate, nor will it help protect public health.”

The representative also encouraged residents to report standing water on private property by calling 311 or visiting the DOHMH website.

Last summer, four people and 200 mosquito pools in Queens tested positive for the virus, according to DOHMH. West Nile activity was reported several times in Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach, Lindenwood and the Rockaways.

Hamilton Beach residents will soon see an end to the roller coaster they have been experiencing when driving through 104th Street.

Representatives from the Department of Transportation (DOT) said they would finally get started on repairing the road, which residents have been demanding for years.

Work is anticipated to start in the fall of this year and will include roadway resurfacing, according to a representative.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will fund the repairs since they decided the damage was a result of Hurricane Sandy, though Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron said the damage was done well before the storm.

According to Gendron, the DOT told residents that 104th Street would be included in its 10-year capital project plan in 2010. Repairs were never made and after the superstorm hit, the potholes and cracks grew bigger.

“I don’t want to say we were lied to, but we weren’t told the truth,” Gendron said.

Everyone who enters and exits Hamilton Beach must drive through 104th Street, making the street even more dangerous since people sometimes swerve to avoid potholes, Gendron said.

Buses also run through 104th Street, and potholes formed near the bus stops. Additionally, there is no sidewalk where riders can wait to board, so they are forced to wait on the street.

Betty Braton, chairwoman of Community Board 10 says the repairs are “long overdue.”

“The community has had to put up with conditions not conducive to safe driving because of the potholes and the ripples in the street,” Bratton said. “It’s not been a good situation for this community.”

Gendron said the DOT has filled a few potholes but the work has not been substantial enough. The DOT has conducted a number of street resurfacing projects for Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach’s neighbor, but this is the first time residents here have heard concrete information about repairs.

“This is a giant step forward,” Gendron said. “We’ve never heard about a project until now.”

The West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department is located right off of 104th Street and Chief Jonah Cohen said when volunteers come to department headquarters, they end up hitting potholes and run the risk of damaging their cars.

Something as important as responding to a call should not require so much effort on the part of the driver, Gendron said.

“Me, getting milk and bread, I can take my time,” Gendron said. “They’re going to respond to a call, time is of an essence. To have to think about where am I driving, what side of the street am I driving on, is anybody coming? It’s a no-brainer to me [that] you shouldn’t have to think like that.”

A hit-and-run happened in Hamilton Beach. The victim: a beloved, handmade 2-by-3-foot wooden welcome sign crafted by a neighborhood resident.

The sign that welcomed visitors to Hamilton Beach, along with a guardrail and a city traffic sign, was located at the beginning of Hamilton Beach where vehicles cross into the community from Old Howard Beach.

The accident occurred in the beginning of December, but the motorist who caused the damage has yet to be caught. The guardrail is smashed almost 2 feet back, the two-way-traffic sign is knocked down behind the rail and the Hamilton Beach sign was cracked in the middle with letters and decorations missing.

It was removed to see if there was a possibility to have it repaired, but Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association, was just told it was unfixable, and the neighborhood now has to look to purchase a new sign.

“I can’t imagine how fast this person must have been going to hit the rail that hard and knock it back so far,” Gendron said. “Thank God no one was hurt, but now we have to get it fixed and get a new sign.”

When crossing into Hamilton Beach from Old Howard Beach, a vehicle must go over a bridge with a slight incline. But, the high point of that bridge, which crosses over Hawtree Creek, is at least 50 feet if not more before the guardrail and sign, giving drivers an ample amount of time to see the stop sign at the corner before entering the neighborhood.

When Gendron first noticed the sign was down he went down to further inspect the area and see if he could find any clues as to who may have done the damage. He found a piece of the car with the vehicle identification number on it, which he turned over to police at the 106th Precinct.

The crash is still under investigation, but just last week, the precinct removed an abandoned car from the neighborhood with a Pennsylvania license plate. The car’s front end was smashed in. It is not confirmed if that was the vehicle that caused the damage, but Gendron said it would definitely fit the description with how much damage was done to it.

The next step for the neighborhood is to get the guardrail fixed, erect a new pole for the two-way sign and put up a new welcome sign. Gendron has been in touch with Councilman Eric Ulrich’s office to see if the councilman can help get a Department of Transportation crew assigned to fix the two-way sign and guardrail. He is currently looking for someone or some business willing to make a new welcome sign. Gendron priced out a couple of signs but was astonished when he saw that many cost over $3,000. He has toyed with the possibility of starting a “Go Fund Me” page to see if he could get enough donations to buy a new sign but he hasn’t committed to it yet as he is exploring other options.

“We need a new sign for the neighborhood,” Gendron said. “I don’t know how we will get it yet, but we will.”

BACKGROUND: Roger Gendron was born and raised in Hamilton Beach. He continues to live there with his wife Holly and two sons — Christopher, 20, and Matthew, 16. He likes living in Hamilton Beach because he feels it is like a small town in a big city, where everybody knows everybody else and they watch out for each other. Gendron, 52, is a Local 3 electrician and shop steward at the Resorts World Casino.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Gendron was a member of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association for five years before he became president in February 2012. In the early days of his presidency, he dealt with issues such as poor street conditions, broken sidewalks and people hanging out at street corners, which were “easily rectified.”

The dynamics of his presidency changed dramatically when Hurricane Sandy hit the neighborhood that October. The association members, and the community as a whole, banded together to help each other out. The effects of the devastation are felt even today. Gendron spends most of his time serving as a liaison between his community and the city’s elected officials and agencies. The association has helped get a playground repaired at Hamilton Beach Park and a boardwalk reconstructed. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, new residents have moved into the neighborhood and the association tries to make them feel welcome in the community by inviting them to meetings and circulating a newsletter.

GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT: “There is no single achievement, but I have been able to become the voice of Hamilton Beach,” said Gendron. “Earlier, we were the forgotten stepchild of Howard Beach. One of the things I had promised was that Hamilton Beach will get recognition as a separate entity. We are there, in a way. Some good has come out of Sandy.”

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: “My biggest challenge has been dealing with the bureaucracy of New York City,” said Gendron. “If you call one person about an issue to get an answer, they’ll promise to get back. One week later when you haven’t heard from them and call them again, they’ll say, ‘Oh, that person is on vacation.’ It is frustrating. We are blessed to have strong allies in our elected officials and all of them work well together and with us.”

INSPIRATION: “There is no one person. I’ve always found myself to be a helpful person, I’ll help anybody with anything. That’s the way I was raised. My work in this position helps more than one person, it helps the neighborhood. My mom would be proud of me.”

The final stone has been set, and the brand-new Hamilton Beach “boardwalk” has opened.

The 2,000-foot-long cement walkway now provides access for Hamilton Beach residents to travel a direct path from the neighborhood to the Coleman Square train station. Before the reconstruction, the now-cement path was a boardwalk with wooden slats.

The boardwalk was in disrepair for many years, with some boards missing and rusty rail, but it was usable. But once Superstorm Sandy hit, the fragile boardwalk was further damaged and deemed too dangerous for the public to use.

Following Sandy, the city dragged its heels on repairing the boardwalk because of a dispute over who actually owned the land beneath it. The city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) claimed that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority owned the land, while the state-run MTA insisted it was the city’s land and responsibility.

Councilman Eric Ulrich then pushed for repairs to be done immediately by the city and the rightful owner, DCAS, took over the project.

Photo courtesy of Roger Gendron

“This is an issue our office has worked on with DCAS and the Hamilton Beach community for a long time,” Ulrich said. “In an area with limited ways in and out, the boardwalk is a main route connecting many people to the Howard Beach A train station. Residents will once again have easier access to transportation — but the boardwalk is just one part of the neighborhood that needed repair and we aim to fix them all.”

Repairs started back in May and were finished last week. The new “boardwalk” is now a cement path with a stone embankment descending to the water. The walkway has a new fence and guardrail.

“As a whole this is a positive step [for Hamilton Beach],” said Roger Gendron, president of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association. “It is great that we have another way out of Hamilton Beach that is safer for residents to get to the businesses in Coleman Square and the train station.”

Hamilton Beach is a small portion of Howard Beach and is separated from the rest of the neighborhood by canals and waterways. There are only three ways out of the neighborhood, one being the boardwalk, which was out of commission for the past two years.

“I am glad to finally see that Hamilton Beach is finally getting some of the attention that it desperately needs from the city,” Gendron noted. “This is a great step forward.”

It was a fun-filled day for the residents of Hamilton Beach on Sunday, as the neighborhood’s brand-new playground was officially opened to the public.

“It’s almost two years to the day that this community, along with many others, was hit with Hurricane Sandy. Not long after Sandy, I was contacted about the playground in Hamilton Beach,” said Roger Gendron, president of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association. “After many months of planning, I’m happy to say that the children in this community now have a new playground.”

The grand opening event consisted of a bouncy castle, pumpkin patch, balloon clown, popcorn and cotton candy makers and a station for children to paint Stars of Hope, which were displayed all around the neighborhood of Hamilton Beach after Hurricane Sandy struck.

The playground set and project funds were donated by Resorts World Casino. In total, the cost was $40,000 to take down the old Sandy-stricken set, replace it with the new one, add two new benches to the play area, take off the old matting and replace it with new matting.

Gendron was contacted by Councilman Erich Ulrich, who told him Resorts World wanted to come in and rebuild the playground, soon after Sandy virtually destroyed it. They then got together with Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and state Sen. Joe Addabbo, who worked with the National Parks Service and Local 1010 of the Pavers and Road Union to have the playground built.

The project was started in mid-August and was totally finished just last week, but Gendron and the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association wanted to hold a grand opening to thank all those who helped make the project possible.

On behalf of our entire community, I want to thank Resorts World for everything you’ve done for us,” Gendron said. “Resorts World has shown their generosity to Hamilton Beach over and over again and I just want them to know that we truly appreciate everything they’ve done for us.”

While it sounds like a U2 spoof, the dually-named streets make it difficult for people to find addresses but more importantly, cause serious problems for first-responders heading toward emergency scenes.

Twice this year, an ambulance responding to a Hamilton Beach resident with diabetes was delayed because the dispatchers failed to recognize her street, Burlingame Court, a local leader alleged. Only the street’s other name, 163rd Road, rang any bells.

“It’s unbelievable that in this day and age we have this problem,” said Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association. “It is something that could lead to a really serious issue down the line.”

Hamilton Beach has historically been off the city numerical mapping grid, and the streets all originally had names instead of numbers.

In 2007, the city decided to make it part of the grid, following street numbers and avenues from Old Howard Beach, just to the west.

City officials changed some of the street names to numbers but one year later decided to de-map the proposed grid and keep the original names along with the new numbered street names.

The names versus numbers issue has arisen before.

In 2007, a fire broke out on one of the newly numbered Hamilton Beach streets, but fire trucks responded instead to the Old Hamilton Beach side of Hawtree Creek and the house burnt down, Gendron said.

After that, the civic association requested that the streets revert to their original names. But officials instead combined the old and new, leaving many streets with dual names, such as 163rd Drive and James Court or 163rd Road and Burlingame Court.

Councilman Eric Ulrich said he has been working with the 106th Precinct to figure out whether the recent screw-ups were human error or a system problem.

As the precinct investigated the 911 mapping system, they found that both Burlingame Court and 163rd Road showed up. Officials came to the conclusion that it was most likely an issue with the dispatchers and ambulance drivers not being familiar with the neighborhood, according to a representative from Ulrich’s office.

But Gendron is afraid next time may be too late.

“Thankfully they got there in time,” Gendron said. “But something has to be done.

“I was shocked that this happen,” said Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association. “I think we all knew it could happen, but for it to happen before the playground officially opened is unbelievable.”

On Sept. 19, the vandal spray-painted graffiti on the slide that was just installed in the park. The slide is attached to a brand-new play set that Resorts World Casino shelled out $40,000 to install in the playground on 104th Street at the edge of Hamilton Beach. Graffiti was a major problem with the old playground that once sat there, making it an eyesore for the neighborhood.

THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata

Because of where the park is situated, it is hard for residents to keep surveillance on it. Houses are only on one side and they are separated by a street, handball courts and a basketball court, leaving the playground as an easier target for vandals.

But Gendron said he would not let this new playground set become what the old was one, especially after Resorts World picked up the whole tab to install it.

“The paint will be removed this time and every other time it happens,” Gendron said.

And it has.

THE COURIER/ Photo by Salvatore Licata

Auxiliary police officers from the 106th Precinct quickly repainted the slide two days after the vandals struck. They have been a huge presence in the neighborhood when it comes to covering up graffiti.

Gendron said he was humbled by their kind act and hopes that everyone in the neighborhood will join in helping to keep the park in good shape for the children from now on.

Resorts World Casino did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The repair work on the Hamilton Beach walkway connecting the town to the Coleman Square train station is making strides.

The first 500 feet of the now-concrete walkway has been built and officials hope the nearly 2,000-foot path will be fully constructed by the end of September, said Sal Simonetti, chief of staff for Councilman Eric Ulrich, at the Hamilton Beach Civic Association meeting on Aug. 14.

The concrete walkway is expected to be a bit wider than the original wooden boardwalk and will have handrails and lighting, according to Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association.

Work began on May 17, nearly two and a half years after the bridge was rendered too dangerous to use because of damage from Superstorm Sandy.

What the boardwalk looked like after Superstorm Sandy (Photo courtesy of Roger Gendron)

Part of the delay was attributed to uncertainty as to which city agency was responsible for the repairs. Ultimately, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services took responsibility and started the repair.

The walkway allows residents a straight path from the train station to Hamilton Beach. Residents have had to take a circuitous route into Hamilton Beach, which included a trek down Russell Street, which lacks an adequate sidewalk.

Even though the plans are mapped out to have the walkway finished by the end of September, Simonetti made it clear that this date was not set in stone.

But Gendron said he was happy that Hamilton Beach is finally starting to get some of its biggest issues addressed.

“This walkway is crucial for the residents of our neighborhood who need access to the Coleman Square train station,” Gendron said. “This will give our neighbors easier access into town and make for safer conditions while doing so.”

Graffiti is nothing new for Hamilton Beach residents. But residents are alarmed over new racist slurs and sexually suggestive images scrawled on a graffiti-covered footbridge connecting the small neighborhood to Howard Beach.

The bridge, which is known as “the blue bridge” to locals and goes over Hawtree Creek, has always been a hangout spot for kids smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, according to Marie Persans, a Hamilton Beach resident. And it has always been laden with graffiti but over the weekend someone, or group, sprayed a series of offensive terms and images on the bridge.

“You’ve got some really nasty stuff written over there,” Persans said. “Thank goodness I don’t use that bridge too often.”

Barbara Eckel-Schimmenti wrote on Facebook, “Walked over the bridge with grandchildren [and] was embarrassed by the profanity.”

A police source said that residents should report these incidents as often as possible to the police, but since the bridge is owned by the Department of Transportation (DOT) there is only so much they can do. For now, the 106 Precinct’s graffiti unit has been informed of the issue.

A spokesman for the DOT said, “We will inspect the location. DOT attempts to remove any such objectionable graffiti as soon as possible.”

Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association, said that the bridge also has broken lights and that he brought these issues to Councilman Eric Ulrich’s attention.

In Hamilton Beach, residents say they witness new potholes and sink holes form right before their eyes.

On 104th Street, a main artery for cars, buses and pedestrian traffic coming in and out of the neighborhood, a new problem developed over just a few days.

“On Monday there was a slight indentation [on 104th Street] and by Thursday it had become a fully developed sink hole,” said Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association.

Residents trace the problem to 10 years ago when new homes were built in one section and the street was gouged in several places for sewer piping. Aside from the newly formed hole in the road, Hamilton Beach’s main road is pocked with numerous holes that span over 200 feet.

The daily task of driving along 104th Street is fraught with indentations of all kinds that often force drivers to drive on the wrong side of the road to save their axles the abuse. The road also has a bus stop for the Q11 but there is no sidewalk for people to wait on, making them another obstacle that drivers have to look out for.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the city do any work on these roads to fix these problems,” life-long resident Marie Persans said. “We see Howard Beach getting paved a lot but all we get is patches that wear out in no time.” Persans is also the vice-president of the civic association.

Residents ultimately want the Department of Transportation (DOT) to put in a completely new roadbed that would elevate the road, preventing pools of water from collecting in the holes during rainstorms. They also want a waiting area for people using the bus.

DOT Spokesman Nicholas Mosquera said that the department doesn’t have the resources to make these long-term changes.

“While DOT will look to include 104th Street in a future reconstruction schedule, the agency will continue to monitor the roadway, which was assessed last month, and repair potholes and perform any other short-term maintenance needs,” he said.

Councilman Eric Ulrich’s office has been working with the community to get the transportation department to get the resources need for long-term changes, according to Sal Simonetti, a representative for the councilman.

“These conditions are horrible,” Gendron said. “This is a very dangerous situation for everybody.”